DIGEST

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros had publicly worried about the public health threat in the hurricane zone posed by "increases in vermin, rodents and disease."

Tests confirmed the presence of the rodent-borne disease in the hurricane zone after a mechanic became the first hantavirus victim east of the Mississippi River.

The hantevirus, which rodents excrete through feces, urine and saliva, claimed several lives in the Southwest in May.

State officials asked for federal funds when a trapping program by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uncovered virus-carrying rats in a wide area, including heavily damaged Homestead and Florida City.

But the denial letter on Thursday from FEMA coordinating officer P.E. May said, "CDC was not able to determine that an immediate threat to lives, public health and safety exists as a result of Hurricane Andrew."